Lecture 7 - Aggression Flashcards
1
Q
Describe human aggression
A
- Where you go in the world, you will encounter human aggression
- At whatever time in human history, you will also find human aggression
- Early discussions on this - Hobbes (1651) wrote that extreme levels of aggression are natural for human beings
2
Q
What is aggression?
A
- “Intended to harm another of the same species” (Scherer et al., 1975)
- “Directed toward another individual carried out with the proximate intent to cause harm” (Anderson & Huesmann, 2003)
- “Directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment” (Baron & Byrne, 2000)
- “That results in personal injury or destruction of property” (Bandura, 1973)
- Definitions have some commonality: ‘intent to harm’ (Carlson et al., 1989)
3
Q
How do we measure aggression?
A
- Multiple methods in the laboratory:
- Punching an inflatable (Bobo) doll (Bandura et al., 1963)
- Observations from teachers and colleagues (Eron, 1982)
- Self-reports of aggressive behavior (Leyens et al., 1975)
- Self-report of willingness to use violence in lab (Geen, 1978)
- Selecting spiciness of hot sauce for someone else who does not like spice (Lieberman et al., 1999)
- But do these translate to real-world aggression?
4
Q
Describe an example of measuring aggression
A
- Chermack, Berman & Taylor (1997)
- Subjects competed against “opponent” in a reaction time game
- After each trial, the loser received a shock (loser a confederate)
- 2 conditions
- Low provocation - shocks stayed at setting #4
- High provocation - shocks gradually increased from 4 to 9
5
Q
Describe the relationship between gaming and aggression
A
- ‘Video/computer games can be a cause of real-world violence and aggression) = more women agree than men
- ‘Video games can be a useful outlet for frustrations and aggressions’ = more men agree
- Video games have long been thought to be associated with negative real-world outcomes
- APA review confirms link between playing violent video games and aggression
- Aggression is the most notable of these – essentially, we use media as a model for our behavior, or it acts as a ‘hypodermic needle’ and is injected into people who engage with it
- Some evidence of a link between gaming and aggression (Anderson & Bushman, 2001), but the effect is small (Ferguson, 2007)
6
Q
Describe evidence that suggests no effect of gaming on aggression
A
- BUT… there’s plenty of evidence that suggests no effect (Ferguson, 2015; Przyblski & Weinstein, 2019)
- One of the big problems is not standardized use of aggression measures (e.g., Ferguson, 2007; Elson et al., 2014) – selective use of measures can make effects seem bigger than they are
- E.g., typically asking participants to estimate their own aggressive behaviors
- It also struggles to account for real-world crime rates – engagement with gaming has increased, whereas crime has fallen
7
Q
What has been shown about the relationship between gaming and wider emotional behaviour?
A
- While that link may be null (or small), other studies have shown interesting effects on wider emotional behaviour
- Kennedy et al (2014) found that people who frequently played violent video games were less distracted by violent images in other contexts
- A phenomenon the study author called “emotion-induced blindness”
8
Q
What are the different theoretical perspectives on the development and exhibition of aggression?
A
Innate theories of aggression
- Aggression is unlearned and universal. If it is not released, it builds up until it explodes
Social theories of aggression (including learnt)
- The social context in which we exist can also explain it
9
Q
What is Freud’s psychodynamic theory of aggression?
A
- Innate ‘death instinct’ (Thanatos)
- Thanatos theorised anger is initially directed at self-destruction, but as we develop, becomes directed toward others
- Aggression builds up naturally and must be released
10
Q
What is the ethological perspective of aggression?
A
- Lorenz (1966)
- Aggression has a ‘survival value’ functional view of aggression
- Dual-factor theory:
- (1) Innate urge to aggress (inevitable)
- (2) Aggressive behaviour elicited by environmental stimuli (releasers)
- Lorenz (1966) mapped this to people (fighting instinct)
- i.e. energy builds up and is released on another provocative behaviour of someone else
11
Q
What is the evolutionary view of aggression?
A
- Social behavior is adaptive and helps the individual, kin, and species to survive (e.g., Buss & Shackelford, 1997)
- Aggressive behavior - evolved to allow to procreate and pass on genes to the next generation
- Social and economic advantage e.g. high-flying executives may use aggressive behaviour to fight off colleagues for promotion
12
Q
What are some problems with these accounts?
A
- Limited evidence for the psychodynamic theory
- Ethological account struggles to explain the functional value of aggression in humans
- Aggressors often find themselves punished and excluded from the group. Instead, society seems to manage aggression, e.g. by viewing aggressive sports
- Evolutionary account takes limited empirical evidence and claims to use circular reasoning
- Limited practical application: research has shown that attempts to release aggressive impulses do not work (e.g., Bushman, et al., 2001)
13
Q
Describe the social learning theory of aggression
A
- Observational learning; modelling; learning by vicarious experience
- Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)
- Children watched an adult playing with ‘Bobo doll’
- 3 conditions:
- (1) Observed real-life aggressive model (kicking and hitting)
- (2) Observed non-aggressive model (played nicely)
- (3) Control group - no model
- Findings: children exposed to the aggressive model displayed significantly more aggression (modelled behavior but not releasing anger)
14
Q
What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard et al., 1939)?
A
- “The occurrence of aggressive behavior always presupposes the existence of frustration”; and “the existence of frustration always leads to some form of aggression” (Dollard et al., 1939, p.1)
- Frustration: “an interference with the occurrence of an instigated goal-response at its proper time in the behaviour sequence” (Dollard et al., 1939, cited in Berkowitz, 1989, p.60)
- Aggression results of having one’s goals thwarted
- If target too powerful, unavailable or not a person displace aggression onto alternative target (scapegoat)
- E.g. Hovland and Spears (1940)
15
Q
What did Barker et al. (1941) show about FAH?
A
- Children are shown a room full of toys:
- Initially not allowed to play with them, or allowed to play without waiting
- Assessed how children played with toys
- Frustrated group acted more aggressively e.g. smashed toys on the floor, threw against the wall, general destructive behaviour
16
Q
What did Berkowitz (1962, 1989) show about the FAH?
A
- Frustration does not always lead to aggression
- Aversive events – negative affect
- Situational cues (frustration is a feeling which some people may not have)
- Frustration ill-defined
17
Q
What is excitation transfer? (Zillman, 1979, 1988)
A
- Expression of aggression is a function of 3 factors:
- (1) Learnt aggressive behavior
- (2) Arousal or excitation from another source
- (3) The person’s interpretation of the arousal state – such that an aggressive response seems appropriate
18
Q
What factors can influence aggression?
A
- Type A Personality = ‘striving to achieve, time urgency, competitiveness & hostility’ (Hogg & Vaughan, 2014; p. 469)
- More conflict with peers and subordinates but not superiors (Baron, 1989).
- Other theories of personality (e.g., psychoticism, low agreeableness)
- Frustration and provocation sensitivity (Lawrence, 2006; Lawrence & Hodgkins, 2009) – individual differences in sensitivity/frustration in different situations
19
Q
How does heat impact aggression?
A
- Numerous experimental studies have demonstrated heat’s independent effect on aggression
- Simple priming experiments:
- Participants were shown images and words commonly associated with heat (Wilkowski, et al. 2009)
- Participants with heat-related words and imagery led participants to perceive neutral facial expressions as aggressive and to have more aggressive thoughts
- Another approach is to compare crime rates in similar regions to examine the link between heat and violence (i.e., accounting for nationality, socioeconomic conditions, etc.)
- Findings consistently show that hotter areas have higher violent crime rates, even when controlling for confounding factors (e.g., Anderson, 2001)
20
Q
Heat and climate change
A
- Mares and Moffett (2016) analysed violence data from 60 countries, finding a significant link between heat and violence, particularly in conflict zones
- Their models suggest a 1°C global temperature rise due to the climate crisis could increase homicide rates by up to 6%
21
Q
How does the presence of a weapon influence aggression?
A
- Klinesmith et al. (2006)
- Men took part and held a gun or held child’s toy
- Measured aggressive behaviour (how much hot sauce to the next person)
- Holding a gun increased aggression
- Similarly finding by Berkowitz and LePage (1967): if angered, participants gave more electric shocks in the presence of a weapon (gun)
22
Q
How does alcohol influence aggression?
A
- Miller and Parrott (2010)
- Intoxicated participants behave more aggressively and respond to provocations more strongly
- Also, low aggressors became more aggressive when intoxicated, whereas high aggressors did not
23
Q
How does narcissism influence aggression?
A
- Narcissist = want to feel superior
- Bushman and Baumeister (1998)
- Participants wrote a pro-life or pro-choice essay on abortion
- Some given negative feedback, such as “This is one of the worst essays I’ve ever read”
- Later, they were asked to deliver blasts of noises to another participant, and they could adjust the level
- Findings: narcissistic participants gave the person whom they thought that had criticised their easy louder bursts. But not other participants
- Direct aggression at those who threaten their self-image
24
Q
What is the General Aggression Model (AGM)?
A
GAM is a comprehensive, integrative framework for understanding human aggression. It considers the role of social, cognitive, developmental, and biological factors in aggression (Allen et al., 2018)
